As part of our kitchen renovation, we've decided to replace the front door. Since the new floor installed went right up to the door it was the appropriate time to change it. Door was ordered by our contractor from a local supply company and delivered in about 2-3 weeks. It sat in my garage for about a month and eventually when it came time to install, my contractor opened it up and realized they sent us the correct door however, it was prepped for a mortise lock instead of the regular lock (which is what we supposedly ordered). Since my old door was completely removed prior to inspecting the new door, my contractor had no choice but to install the new door. My contractor then contacted the supply yard and although I don't know the specifics, what I was told/promised was that we would be refunded the additional cost for the mortise prepped door and only charged $100 for a new mortise lock. I agreed to this because I didn't want to prolong this any more than it's already been and just wanted to keep things moving. Again, i'm not sure as to specifics but i'm leaning towards the fact that this is what I was told/promised is because my contractor didn't want to go through the trouble of removing this new door he just installed and putting another one in. Unfortunately, once all was said and done either my contractor was lied to or I was lied to by my contractor because I was charged $400 for the mortise lock and not the $100 I was promised. Had I known this in advance, I never would have agreed to this arrangement especially since I had already purchased a lock which I was unable to return.

Anyhow, the new "$400" mortise lock was now ordered and my front door was bolted shut for almost 2 weeks while we waited for the lock to come in. We needed to do this for security reasons as we had no other way to keep the door locked. When the lock finally arrived and was installed the door was incredibly difficult to open and close, and the lock was extremely difficult to operate as well. I called my contractor back and he told me that his guys did a sloppy job on the install and after spending about 2 hours here he assured me it would be fine and that its usually very stiff in the beginning. The door was better that it was before however nowhere near where it should be. My wife and 6 year old kids were unable to open it from the inside. I don't think that's how it should be. I asked him to come back once again and he told me that the door wasn't hung properly from the factory and he needed to shave the top in order for it to open and close properly, and also that the threshold wasn't sitting properly so it was also rubbing on the bottom too much and making it difficult to open. You can clearly see the threshold was all scuffed up from the rubber on the bottom of the door pressing too hard on it. In addition, the lock was difficult to operate which he explained the door being so hard to open was the cause of that. He did adjust the threshold down all the way and that still wasn't enough clearance to make it close correctly.

I've since called the supply place several times to gather more information on what exactly happened and since I didn't place the order, they won't provide me much information. My contractor keeps telling me he's waiting to hear from his salesman at the supply company, who supposedly contacted the local Reeb rep, and are waiting for a response. I should mention this door was first installed almost 2 months ago.

I took it upon myself to find out who the local Reeb rep is and spoke to him last Tuesday April 2. He was very nice and willing to help and offered a site visit. Only thing is that he needed to speak with the supply house in order to verify the door was purchased from there. I've got the actual receipt as proof however, that wasn't sufficient. He said he needs to speak with them first and get approval. He also mentioned that since the door was modified by my contractor, the warranty is now voided. I wasn't happy about that but that wasn't his fault. I just want Reeb to come and let me know if the door was installed properly or not. My gut feeling is that it wasn't and I'd like him to verify this. Since I haven't heard from anyone I reached out to the Reeb rep last Friday April 5th and he said he would call the supply place once again. Its now been a week since I've first spoken with him. I've left him a message this morning and waiting for a response.

I'm just not sure how to proceed from here. Although i'm not happy about having to purchase another door, I realize my contractor voided the warranty by modifying this one and that I will be responsible for purchasing a new one. That is of course if this one installed is defective. I made the mistake of paying my contractor in full because I knew him and trusted him. Lesson learned...

If anyone has any advice on how to proceed from here, I would greatly appreciate it. We just want to have a front door installed correctly and move on with our lives.

Houzz has been a tremendous help throughout this process and I'm hoping we can get this situation resolved as well.

Thanks in advance!